Faculty/Staff Directory

Bill Mendelsohn, Ed.S.

Bill Mendelsohn, M.A., Ed.S., is the Director of Charter Schools and Partnerships. Mr. Mendelsohn received his Bachelors degree in history from Yale University. He received his Masters degree in Education and an Educational Specialist Degree in Program Evaluation from Stanford University.

Bill taught high school Social Studies and history for 31 years, primarily in the St. Louis school districts of Kirkwood and Clayton. He served as department chair at Kirkwood and was the District Coordinator for Social Studies - K-12 for seventeen years at Clayton. Bill was Missouri’s Social Studies Teacher of the Year in 1985. The Bill Mendelsohn Excellence in Teaching Award is given annually to an outstanding Clayton High School teacher as selected by the senior class, faculty and administration.

During his teaching career, Bill served on the boards of the Conference on Education and the International Education Consortium. He was a consultant for the College Board, conducting workshops for Advanced Placement U.S. teachers. For the Educational Testing Service, Bill wrote questions for the AP U.S. History exam, scoring rubrics for its essay questions and training for the readers who assessed the essays.

Upon retirement from teaching in 2008, Bill joined the national staff of Teach For America where he designed training and professional development for staff and corps members (teachers) to improve teacher effectiveness. He also served as the Social Studies Content Area Specialist.

Bill oversees UMSL’s sponsorship of seven charter schools in the city of St. Louis. He has devoted his life to education and fully embraces the belief that all children deserve schools that will help put them on pathways to opportunity.